The City of God: A Response to the Donatist Discourse

The City of God, especially its opening five books, are widely understood as an attempt to answer why the generation that saw Rome finally become Christian also saw it reach terminal decline. But the book should also be understood as a response to the Donatist controversy. Followers of the theologian Donatists held that churchmen who had compromised and cooperated with persecuting authorities were turncoats whose offices were illegitimate. By the end of the three hundreds, the Donatists had become an enduring faction of North African religion.